The Law School Years: How to Have a Home Life Too

The Law School Years: How to Have a Home Life Too

law school years

Before you even head off to law school, you may be steeling yourself for the feeling of never having free time again. Many of us hear horror stories—some extreme—about the rigors of being a first-year law student especially, with some students even developing health problems after becoming so stressed out. The key of course though, is preparation and organization. You must start out that way, and try not to ever get behind, as that is when you may feel overtaken and overwhelmed by the amount of work facing you.

If you enter law school with complete dedication and the ability to be disciplined, you should be fine. Your home life is important though, because it is your life. During your time in law school, your recreational hours may be more restricted, but there must still be time made for family, friends, and relaxation. Even the most competitive, excelling law students need down time—and in many cases, they understand the importance of self-care. It’s hard to keep going day after day if you are not getting to regenerate, and if you are not happy. Bedraggled and burned out is not the goal!

Home life is even more important for many older students who may already have one career on the ground and are seeking a law degree as an enhancement to their current profession. You may be moving into a new area such as law but already have a spouse and family at home. Not only does this mean you may have to work a job also to support dependents (and pay for a mortgage and vehicle too), but you want to spend time with them too and it may feel strange to have to seriously ‘carve out’ time.

If those around you are positive and supportive, they will understand your schedule as you begin to structure a realistic one. You are working toward something amazing, a lifelong goal, and a degree that should pay off for decades. Trying to balance class studies, and normal functions like sleep, will only be this rigorous for a few years—and then, of course after that you will have a busy career and the work home life balance may become even crazier. That’s a subject for after graduation though!

Most of law-school graduates go on to lead extremely fulfilling lives. And although it may be easier said than done, if you want to have a home life and attend law school, you will have to strategize regarding balance. There is not a lot of room for spontaneity when you are a law student and going to class and studying equates to having a very serious full-time job, or more. You will need to assess how much time you spend in class, when your most productive time to study is, and when your loved ones are available for you to spend time with.

Our mission at CDTA College of Law is to educate, train, and develop extraordinary legal advocates. Your legal education will be comprised of bar-tested academic subjects, skills training, and values reinforcement. Upon completion of your four-year course of study you will be fully qualified to take and pass the California Bar examination. Call us today at (760) 342-0900 or find out more online here.

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